Method of making bottle closures



Nov. 17, 1931; I R. s. OWENS 1,832,321

METHOD OF MAKING BOTTLE CLOSURES Filed Jan. 23. 1929 INVENTCYJR Roam)" JruA/Pr 0WE/YS Patented Nov. 17, 193i aaram oFricE BOBERT STUART OWENS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK marnon or MAKING aor'ran drosumis The present invention relates to bottle closure and has for an object to provide an improved method of manufacture thereof.

It is current practice in the manufacture of bottle closures of the type comprislng a metal cap with a packing disk therein to first form the metal cap with a crimped edge or a threaded flange and then to insert in each cap a packing disk of cork, paper or other suitable material, said packing disk sometimes ,being aflixed to the inner face of the cap by an adhesive. The metal caps can be formed expeditiously by existing machines, but the a insertion of the packing disks is a relatively slow operation and several machines are required for inserting the disks in the caps which are formed in one cap forming press.

The present invention provides an improved method of manufacturing the closures whereby the packing disks are first aflixed to the sheet metal blank before the dieing out and forming operation is erformed. By this arrangement one ma ine can be constructed which is suiiicient to aiiix disks to all of the blanks as they are sup-v plied to the closure forming machine and when the formed caps leave the machine they are already supplied with the required packing disk on their inner faces.

The nature and objects of the invention will be better understood from-a description of a particular illustrative embodiment for the purposes of which description reference 5 should be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank sheet to which have been secureda number of packing disks of cork or the like for forming bot- 4Q tle closures,

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of an apparatus for applying-the packing disks to the underside of a blank sheet.

Figures 3 and 4' are sectional views indicating the operation of the blanking and Application filed January 23, 1929. Serial No. 334,527.

dieing apparatus by which the bottle closures are formed,

Figure 5 is a sectional view indicating the manner of apply' g the packing disk to the underside of the blank, and 5 Figure 6 is a sectional view of a finished bottle closure.

Ihe method of the resent invention comprises affixing to the s eet metal blank, from which disks are to be cut and formed to pro- 5 vide closurecaps, a number of packing disks so positioned that when the bottle closures are completely formed each will contain a packing disk.

In the process to be particularly described for the purposes of illustrating the invention a series of packing disks 5 are aflixed to the .blank sheet 6 as, for example, by means of an ap aratus such as shown diagrammatically in ig. 2. Said apparatus may comprise 3 a number of %;lld6$ or tubes 7 each carrying a stack of pac ing disks 5 which are fedforward in the guides by plungers 8 all of which may conveniently be carried by a single head 9. Any suitable adhesive may be used to 7' cause the disks to be retained on the sheet metal blank until the forming operation.

The sheet metal ordinarily used in making bottle closures is coated with a lacquer and this may conveniently serve as the adhesive to retain the acking disks.- In operation the lacquered s eet metal blank is heated to render the lacquer tacky, as for example in an oven 10 Fig. 5, and fed therefrom to the disk applying apparatus which may be so de- :3 signed as to apply all of the disks simultaneously suitably spaced throughout the whole area of the blank.

As indicated diagrammatically in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 after the disks 5 are secured to the 35 blank sheet by the disk applying apparatus, the sheet passes to a press wherein individual blanks are cut out and shaped to form closures. The press ordinarily will comprise a number of dies whereby the whole area of the blank may be formed at one time into closures but in the diagrammatic drawings only one set of dies is shown. Each closure forming die may comprise a male die or plunger 11 and a female drawing die 12 with an outer sleeve 13, the cutting edge 14 of which engages the top of the blank to out out the individual blank from the sheet. In operation the die 12 including the sleeve 13 will move downwardly to form the bottle closure. In its operative movement the sleeve as indicated at 18, so that a greater pressure is applied at the edge of the packing disk to insure a proper forming of the closure and to prevent undue crowning of the substantially fiat area thereof.

The foregoing particular description is illustrative merely and is not intended as defining the limits of the invention.

I claim:

1. The method of manufacturing bottle closures which comprises first afixing to a blank sheet a number of pre-formed packing disks, cutting out individual blanks from said blank sheet around said disks and shaping each individual blank to form a bottle closure with a pacln'ng disk on the inner face thereof.

2. The method of manufacturing bottle closures which comprises aifixing to a blank sheet a number of pre-formed packing disks, cutting out individual blanks from said blank sheet with a packing disk centrally positioned on each blank and shaping said blanks between diesito form bottle closures with the packing disks on the inner face thereof.

3. The method of manufacturing bottle closures which comprises first afixing to a blank sheet a plurality of pre-formed pack= ling disks and then forming from said sheet a plurality of bottle closures with packing disks on the inner face thereof.

4. The method of manufacturing a bottle closure which comprises afixing to a blank a pre-formed packing disk and shaping the blank between dies to form a bottle closure with the packing disk on its inner face.

5. The method of manufacturing a bottle closure which comprises afixing to a blank 9. pre-formed packing disc and shaping the blank to form a bottleclosure with the pack ing disc on its inner face, by applying pres sure by means of a die against the packing disc and forcing a (ac-operating die against the opposite surface of the blank.

6. The method of manufacturing a bottle closure which comprises aflixing to a blank a pre-formed packing disc and shaping the blank to form a bottle closure with the packing disc on its inner face, by applying pressure by means of a die to the periphery o the packing dlsc and forcing a co-operating die against the opposite surface of the blank.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 3rd day of January, 1929 ROBERT STUART OWENS. 

